Plastic floor coverings and method for producing same



United States Patent 1: O

James E. Hazeltine, Jr., Lancaster, .l?a., assignor to Armstrong Cork mpany, nca er, a a e mdr i i of Pennsylvania No Drawing. ApplicationNoyember Serial No. 319,795

4. Claims. 2 (Cl. l17.--.-)

- Thisinventionrelatesto plastic. floor. coverings. More particularly, the invention relatesto a. plastic floor covering. obtained by depositinga filmofi plastic onto: a Isealcoated saturated felt backing andtheating the resultingima terials to produce. a. felt base fioorcovering characterized by resilience, flexibility, and resistance to alkalies and oils normally employed in the home.

Felt base floor coverings are well known to the art and, generally speaking, they comprise a saturated felt backing, a seal coat, and a paint film which serves as both a decorative and a wearing surface. One widely used method of producing such floor coverings involves the steps of face coating a saturated felt sheet with a coating paint by means of a knife or other suitable apparatus to provide what is known in the art as a seal coat. Following the application of the seal coat, the material is passed through a block printing apparatus. The blocks are dipped into a container of decorative material and various designs are applied by means of the blocks to the coated felt base. Following the application of the decorative coating, the material is dried to produce a hard paint film.

Various coatings have been used for decorating the surface of a seal-coated saturated felt. Generally speaking, these coatings have been what are known to the art as print paints which contain the desired color pigments and a drying oil-resin type vehicle. These drying oil-resin type vehicles have found wide use in the production of printed felt base goods, but it has been difiicult to attain the desired alkali resistance in such a floor covering because of the nature of the decorative wearing surface coating.

Recently there have been developed methods of producing a type of printed felt base floor covering in which the more recently developed synthetic plastics have been employed as the wearing surface coat. These synthetic plastics, such as the vinyl resins, for example, copolymers of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate, polymers of vinyl chloride, and the like, possess outstanding wearing characteristics and are highly resistant to alkalies and washing powders which have had a rather adverse effect on the drying oil type vehicles.

In order to produce attractive patterns of plastic floor coverings by the block printing method, it has been necessary to utilize organosols and plastisols having viscosities within particular ranges. This has been necessary to obtain proper leveling of the paint after application by the printing block. A typical organosol print paint binder contains a plasticizer such as dioctyl phthalate, a polyvinyl chloride resin, and a solvent such as mineral spirits. To this binder is added the pigment, which may be any of the pigments well known in the art, such as titanium dioxide, lead chromate, and the like. In the production of printed organosol floor coverings, the material after printing is heated to fuse the vinyl resin coating. While the floor coverings obtained by such a process exhibit outstanding characteristics, it has been found that such floor coverings are subject to gouging, which may occur during the life of the floor covering when furniture is moved or other 2,731,358 Patented Jan. 1956 ICC,

objects. are moved. over, the surface of the floor covering.

I have found that this undesirable property is due, tothe solvent action of the plasticizers,.solvents,. and diluents employed in the organosol formulation on the; coating paints which, have been, normally used in the production of printed felt basefioor coverings. I havevfurther found that; this may be overcome, by the 'addition of an, aqueous solution of casein to the felt base coating paint, There: fore, in its broadest aspect, my invention may be said to relate to. a floorcogering obtainedby printing a vinyl resin formulation onto a coated feltbase in.which the coating paint; binder contains casein.- In. a particularlyiadvantas ws embodi en 5 i! vemiQm-the coating. pai t binder; contains about 3 to, about 20% casein; onadry basi W less hanxabout: 3%.case n is pres nt h binde r hs e snetsig ifi a t mprovement in go e res a e ance of the finished -fi0qr .coyering; ;-When; more than about 20%,case1'n ispresent, thefinished-floor covering is toostiif. Such 1390. coverings are then-heated; advantageously at about 290 F. to about 350 F., to fuse the print paint and to produce a product having a hard top coat which exhibits improved resistance to indentation and gouging.

In accordance with my invention, the backing material is a' sheet of saturated felt which is advantageously one obtained by saturating felt with asphalt, synthetic resin, synthetic rubber, or other material. It is advantageous to utilize a waterproof felt such as one produced by saturation with asphalt, but it is also within the scope of my in vention to employ a felt which is saturated with materials which are not highly resistant to the action of water.

To the saturated felt backing a coating paint having a binder containing casein is applied. A typical formulation is illustrated by the following example:

Example I Parts by weight Emulsified oleoresinous varnish 2520 Casein solution 1200 Red slate flour 5615 Barden clay 890 Water 1700 Concentrated amm nia (aqueous solution) 18 Caustic soda 16 The casein solution may be prepared in a number of ways, and a typical formulation of such. solution is as follows:

Example II Parts by weight Caesin Water $76 Concentrated ammonia (aqueous solution) 26 Sodium fluoride 2.5

This coating paint may be applied by means of a doctor blade or any conventional coating means; and after application, the coated felt is passed through the block printing apparatus. The desired pattern is printed onto the coated felt and the print paint may comprise any of the organosol print paints known to the art, a typical example being as follows:

Example III Parts by weight Following application of the organosol print paint, the material 18 fused by passing through infrared lamps or other source of heat.

3 The floor coverings of my invention by excellent properties, such as resistance and the like, andare to indentation and gouging due to the resistance of the coating paint to the materials contained in the organosol print paints. While particular reference'has been'made'to floor coverings, the products of my invention may also be employed as a wall covering.

I claim:

1. A plastic floor or wall covering comprising a satu rated felt-backing, an intermediate seal coat, the binder of which'contains about 3% to about 20% by weight of casein and about 97% to about 80% by weight oleoresinous varnish, anda block printed top coat containing a vinyl resin and a plasticizer system having a solvent action on said oleoresinous varnish. v

2. A plastic floor or wall covering comprising an asphalt saturated felt backing, an intermediate seal coat, the binder of which contains about 3% to about 20% by to alkalies, oils,

weightof casein and about 97 to about 80% by weight 20 oleoresinous varnish, and a block printed top coat containing fused polyvinyl chloride and a plasticizer system having a solvent action on said oleoresinous varnish.

are characterized further characterized by resistance.

, 1 coverings-,hayinga saturated felt backing and a fused vinyl 3. In the 'rnanufacture of block printed floor or wall resin top coat containing a plasticizer system having a solvent action. on oleoresinous varnish, the improvement comprising coating said saturated felt with an intermediate composition, the binder of which contains about 3% to about 20% by weight of casein and about 97% to.

about 80% by weight oleoresinous varnish.

4. In the manufacture of block printed floor or wall coverings having an asphalt saturated felt backing and a fused polyvinyl chloride resin top coat containing a plasticizer system having a solvent action on oleoresinous varnish, the improvement comprising coating said asphalt saturated felt with an intermediate coat of paint, the binder of which contains about 3% to about 20% casein and about 97% to about 80% by weight oleoresinous varnish. i

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

3. IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BLOCK PRINTED FLOOR OR WALL COVERINGS HAVING A SATURATED FELT BACKING AND A FUSED VINYL RESIN TOP COAT CONTAINING A PLASTICIZER SYSTEM HAVING A SOLVENT ACTION ON OLEORESINOUS VARNISH, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING COATING SAID SATURATED FELT WITH AN INTERMEDIATE COMPOSITION, THE BINDER OF WHICH CONTAINS ABOUT 3% TO ABOUT 20% BY WEIGHT OF CASEIN AND ABOUT 97% TO ABOUT 80% BY WEIGHT OLEORESINOUS VARNISH. 